Astros’ assistant hitting coach enjoys road trip back home

Ralph Dickenson has been an instructor for more than 35 years, but he is in his first year with the Astros. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle )

SEATTLE — Ralph Dickenson’s first big-league job has brought him home twice already, and the first two months of the season aren’t over.

Dickenson, the Astros’ first-year assistant hitting coach, has been an instructor for more than 35 years, including at Western Washington University, Washington State University — and in the Mariners system. He hails from Bellingham, Wash., north of Seattle and on the way to Vancouver, Canada.

“It’s perfect,” Dickenson said of being able to visit home.

Many of Dickenson’s pro ball jobs have had him play a coordinator’s role as opposed to that of a day-to-day coach, although in recent years that’s changed. As assistant hitting coaches have caught on in popularity around the major leagues — it’s a workload issue as much as anything — different dynamics have emerged between different duos.

“We’ve been trying to figure out, what do I do, what do I do to support John? What can I do to support him, how can I make it easier?” Dickenson said. “He likes to do mechanics, and approach and he does a great job of preparing guys, giving guys info about the pitcher and the whole nine yards, he’s tremendous with that. So these guys know what they need to know going into the game, it’s a matter of whether they can pull it off or not. But they’re prepared with information, so he’s doing that and I’m trying to, just trying to talk to guys about getting a good pitch, do different things to try and stay in the strike zone.”

Drafted by the Twins in 1969, Dickenson had a six-year minor-league career as both an outfielder (368 games) and pitcher (134 appearances).

Dickenson was working at the University of New Mexico in the late 1980s when he got a call from Jeff Malinoff — who was part of an Angels scouting team that drafted Mike Trout but was then with the Mariners — would Dickenson have interest in working in pro ball? Dickenson said no, but when the baseball program was dropped soon after, and he took up the offer.

Dickenson went on to work for the Brewers, Dodgers, Rangers, Yankees and Nationals organizations before landing in the big leagues for the first time, 45 years after he was drafted.